Giants (Greek mythology) in the context of "Gaia"

Ancient Greek art is the visual and applied arts, as well as the architecture, produced by the Hellenes or Greek peoples from the start of the Iron Age to the Hellenistic period, ending with Roman conquest of Greece at the Battle of Corinth in 146 BCE. It stands out among that of other ancient cultures for its development of naturalistic but idealized depictions of the human body, in which largely nude male figures were generally the focus of innovation. The rate of stylistic development between about 750 and 300 BC was remarkable by ancient standards, and in surviving works is best seen in sculpture. There were important innovations in painting, which have to be essentially reconstructed due to the lack of original survivals of quality, other than the distinct field of painted pottery.

Greek architecture, technically very simple, established a harmonious style with numerous detailed conventions that were largely adopted by Roman architecture and are still followed in some modern buildings. It used a vocabulary of ornament that was shared with pottery, metalwork and other media, and had an enormous influence on Eurasian art, especially after Buddhism carried it beyond the expanded Greek world created by Alexander the Great. The social context of Greek art included radical political developments and a great increase in prosperity; the equally impressive Greek achievements in philosophy, literature and other fields are well known.

In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: gigas, cognate giga-) are beings of humanoid appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word giant is first attested in 1297 from Robert of Gloucester's chronicle. It is derived from the Gigantes (Ancient Greek: Γίγαντες) of Greek mythology.

Fairy tales such as Jack the Giant Killer have formed the modern perception of giants as dimwitted and violent ogres, sometimes said to eat humans, while other giants tend to eat livestock. In more recent portrayals, like those of Jonathan Swift and Roald Dahl, some giants are both intelligent and friendly.

The Pergamon Altar (Ancient Greek: Βωμός τῆς Περγάμου) was a monumental construction built during the reign of the Ancient Greek King Eumenes II of the Pergamon Empire in the first half of the 2nd century BC on one of the terraces of the acropolis of Pergamon in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). It was described as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World by three known classical lists.

The structure was 35.74 metres (117 ft 3 in) wide and 33.4 metres (109 ft 7 in) deep; the front stairway alone was almost 20 metres (66 ft) wide. The base was decorated with a frieze in high relief showing the battle between the Giants and the Olympian gods known as the Gigantomachy. There was a second, smaller and less well-preserved high relief frieze on the inner court walls which surrounded the actual fire altar on the upper level of the structure at the top of the stairs. In a set of consecutive scenes, it depicts events from the life of Telephus, legendary founder of the city of Pergamon and son of the hero Heracles and Auge, one of Tegean king Aleus's daughters.

The Erinyes (/ɪˈrɪni.iːz/ ih-RI-nee-eez; Ancient Greek: Ἐρινύες, sg. Ἐρινύς Erinys), also known as the Eumenides (Εὐμενίδες, the "Gracious ones"), are chthonic goddesses of vengeance in ancient Greek religion and mythology. A formulaic oath in the Iliad invokes them as "the Erinyes, that under earth take vengeance on men, whosoever hath sworn a false oath". Walter Burkert suggests that they are "an embodiment of the act of self-cursing contained in the oath". Their Roman counterparts are the Furies, also known as the Dirae. The Roman writer Maurus Servius Honoratus (c. 400 AD) wrote that they are called "Eumenides" in hell, "Furiae" on Earth, and "Dirae" in heaven. Erinyes are akin to some other Greek deities, called Poenai.

According to Hesiod's Theogony, when the Titan Cronus castrated his father, Uranus, and threw his genitalia into the sea, the Erinyes (along with the Giants and the Meliae) emerged from the drops of blood which fell on the Earth (Gaia), while Aphrodite was born from the crests of sea foam. Apollodorus also reports this lineage. According to variant accounts, they are the daughters of Nyx ('Night'), while in Virgil's Aeneid, they are daughters of Pluto and Nox (the Roman name for Nyx). In some accounts, they were the daughters of Eurynome (a name for Earth) and Cronus, or of Earth and Phorcys (i.e., the sea). In Orphic literature, they are the daughters of Hades and Persephone.

In Greek mythology, the name Periboea (/ˌpɛrɪˈbiːə/; Ancient Greek: Περίβοια "surrounded by cattle" derived from peri "around" and boes "cattle") refers to multiple figures:

• Periboea, one of the 3,000 Oceanids, water-nymph daughters of the Titans Oceanus and his sister-wife Tethys. She was the mother of Aura by Lelantos.
• Periboea, daughter of the Giant Eurymedon and the mother of Nausithous with Poseidon.
• Periboea, daughter of either King Cychreus of Salamis or of King Alcathous of Megara, her mother in the latter case being either Pyrgo or Evaechme, daughter of King Megareus of Onchestus. She was ravished by Telamon who then fled away; when her father learned of that, he ordered for her to be cast in the sea, but the guard who was to perform that took pity on her and sold her away; the one who bought her happened to be Telamon. She became by him mother of Ajax. She was among the would-be sacrificial victims of Minotaur; while on board the ship, Minos attempted to sexually abuse her but she was defended by Theseus, with whom she later consorted. Also known as Eriboea.
• Periboea, an alternate name for Merope, the wife of King Polybus of Corinth and mother of Alcinoë. She was the foster mother of Oedipus, future king of Thebes.
• Periboea, a Naiad, wife of Icarius, mother of Penelope, Perilaus, Aletes, Damasippus, Imeusimus and Thoas, presumably also of Iphthime. Icarius' wife is alternatively known as Asterodia, Dorodoche or Polycaste
• Periboea, the Olenian daughter of Hipponous and mother of Tydeus and possibly Melanippus or Olenias by Oeneus. She was sent by his father to Oeneus because she was seduced by Hippostratus, son of Amarynceus.
• Periboea, one of the first two maidens sent by the people of Locris to the shrine of Athena at Troy, in order to relieve them of plague. The other was named Cleopatra.
• Periboea, eldest daughter of Acessamenus, and mother of Pelagon by the river-god Axius.
• Periboea, mother, by Meges, of the Trojans Celtus and Eubius (Εὔβιος).
• Periboea, daughter of Aeolus, the wind lord, and Telepora or Telepatra.